Five important questions to answer before planning your event

August 14, 2013

FIVE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE PLANNING YOUR EVENT

(And what to do when you’ve answered them)

Whether your event is an anniversary celebration, a charitable fundraiser, a corporate occasion or a birthday party, every event has a few key things in common which need to be taken into consideration during the event planning stage. Here are the most important things to think about before any actual planning can take place.

1. What’s the purpose of the event?

If you’re arranging a wedding then the purpose of the event is clear – the union of the couple, with a smooth transition to the reception. Similarly if your event is a graduation celebration, the aim is obvious – celebrate and enjoy the success and culmination of years of hard work, and congratulate fellow graduates. However if you have a less well defined event, such as a corporate gathering, having goals in place can help define and target the event. Improving relationships between two branches of the company, or nurturing client leads, or rewarding the staff for a particularly impressive quarter; there are many possible reasons for an event.

2. What kind of entertainment would you like to provide?

When it comes to arranging the day’s activities, what you have on the cards is likely to depend on the established purpose of the event. It’s very common to plan for music for at least part of the event, and to provide a space for dancing. However if you’re running a corporate event designed to launch a new product, you might want to invite the lead product designer to speak to the attendees. An event for company staff may involve team building events. There are options galore here and this can be the most difficult aspect of planning an event, since it’s something which many people will remember best, and no-one wants to be remembered for a boring event.

3. What kind of food and drink will you be providing?

At this stage, you don’t want to be thinking about exact menu ideas. You will find it more feasible to establish a very broad idea and then whittle it down to the finer points over time. Decide if there’ll be alcohol at the event, or if it’ll be a sober affair. Do you think a sit-down meal or perhaps even a grandiose banquet will suit your occasion? Or will a light buffet of freshly prepared finger-food help to liven up your attendees

4. What’s the scale of the event?

Do you want to arrange an intimate, private gathering of family and close friends? Or are you looking at a larger scale, with the company staff and their families? Or even a public event? Having a ballpark idea of this will influence many other decisions during planning and organising the event, so it’s important to give some thought.

5. What’s your budget?

When you’ve considered all the other factors, you’ll be well placed to start determining a budget. Generally speaking, the more people you plan on attending, the bigger you’ll need to make the budget, because lots of people require lots of space, lots of food and lots of entertainment. This will also depend on the purpose of the event – a wedding is likely to have a much larger budget than a birthday party.

When you’ve answered these questions, you’re very likely to have a thousand more questions which need answering and a task list longer than your arm. When you have a job and a family to consider, and often other things besides, the added challenge of planning, managing and running an event can seem simply overwhelming. Luckily, when you’ve answered these questions for yourself, you’ll be in an ideal position to hire an event planning company. If you have a really good grasp on what you hope to get out of an event, you can work with an event management team really effectively, leaving them more time available for planning the event and organising everything required, with no need to worry about the ‘nitty gritty’.

If you find yourself staring at the answers to these questions and thinking ‘there’s no way I have time for that’, don’t worry. With over a decade in luxury event management, Scarlet Events will whisk away your to-do list and have everything handled for you. From finding the perfect venue to organising the caterers, and even dressing the event area to add an element of style to your day, Scarlet Events will create an experience that you and your guests will remember for a lifetime.

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